It should come as no surprise that many, many Twitter Mailbag readers this week were fired up about the plan to drop wrestling from the Olympics.

Some of you asked thoughtful questions on the subject, others just raged in tweet form, and still others made some creative use of profanity. I applaud you all, for different reasons.

In this edition of the TMB, we’ll look at wrestling’s future, particularly with how it relates to MMA, but we’ll also dig into this weekend’s UFC interim bantamweight title bout, discuss recent heavyweight bookings, and wonder aloud just what “Cyborg” Santos is thinking. Should be fun. You can ask a question of your own on Twitter at @BenFowlkesMMA, or you can just lurk on the fringes being all creepy and stuff. Your choice.

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@benfowlkesmma Wrestling out of Olympics, good or bad for mma? Will wrestling skill sets devolve over time? AYFKM, IOC?! #tmb

Before we go into full-scale freakout mode, let’s consider the possibility that the instant poopstorm caused by this news will encourage the International Olympic Committee to reconsider. If they didn’t realize that dropping an original Olympic sport would be unpopular, they do now. For Pete’s sake, they kept the pentathlon. You know what the pentathlon is? It’s a bunch of people running, swimming, riding horses, shooting weird pistols, and fencing. In other words, all the skills required of a modern soldier – 100 years ago.

Given the outcry, might the IOC rethink the decision? Dan Henderson hopes so. The UFC light heavyweight and former Olympic wrestler told me this week that he “wasn’t shocked to hear the news” since wrestling frequently finds itself on the chopping block. “At the same time, I know it’s been close to that before, and the wrestling community pulled together,” Henderson said. ” … We’ll see what happens. I’m not a hundred percent sold [that it will happen].”

But let’s say it does. Is that necessarily bad for MMA? I’m not so sure. Just because the Olympics drops wrestling, that doesn’t mean high school or college programs or even other international competitions will immediately cease to exist. The people who want to wrestle will still wrestle. As a friend of mine from Iowa recently pointed out, “I didn’t start wrestling because I wanted to make it to the Olympics; I did it because I was a boy in Iowa.”

But, as Henderson pointed out, dropping the sport from the Olympics is likely to have some effect on the young people already involved in the sport.

“There’s a lot of kids who get into wrestling, then start watching the Olympics and set their goals on becoming an Olympian and winning a medal,” Henderson said. “There won’t be that drive anymore. It will just be to get through college and then do MMA or be a school teacher or something.”

Depending on how you look at it, maybe that’s good news for MMA. Maybe it means that, with no Olympic program to scoop them up, the best collegiate wrestlers will go right into MMA. In the short term, that doesn’t sound so bad. Over the long term, however, it could be the kind of thing that gradually chokes off interest in the sport. Something tells me that they’ll still be wrestling in Iowa a century from now. I just don’t know if they’ll have as many other people to wrestle against by then.

@benfowlkesmma What is the reason we should care about the 135lb title fight when its being show on FuelTV? Doesn’t give it much prestige.

First of all, you left off an important word there: interim. This weekend’s bout between Renan Barao and Michael McDonald is for the interim UFC bantamweight title. The real 135-pound title is at home with Dominick Cruz, and according to UFC President Dana White, that’s where it’ll stay until Cruz is healthy enough to return or until he calls it quits altogether. In the meantime (you might even say, in the interim), we’ve got this belt that looks exactly like the real one but doesn’t mean the same thing. It’s basically the MMA version of a bookmark. It helps us keep track of who the best bantamweight was while Cruz was away. That’s all.

As for why you should care about the Barao-McDonald bout, I don’t know. How about because it’ll probably be an awesome fight? Forget the shiny trinket attached to it. Forget that it’s on FUEL TV in the middle of the afternoon (what, you’re disappointed that the UFC isn’t offering you the chance to pay for this fight?). Just think of it as a five-round scrap between two of the brightest young talents in the division. Plus it’s on free TV. Nothing to complain about there.

@benfowlkesmma if McDonald sees fighting as a job do you expect he will retire much younger than most? I can’t see him going past 32. #TMB

I wondered the same thing after hearing McDonald explain how and why he separates his job as a fighter from his identity as a person. For most people, a job is a lot easier to walk away from than, say, a life. At the same time, it’s worth remembering that this is what McDonald says about it now, when he’s 22. I don’t know about you, but I remember being 22. My ideas about what I wanted out of life have, let’s say, evolved since then. While I think McDonald is wise to separate his fighting career from his identity, I also wonder if he’ll feel the same in 10 years. He might. Then again, he might find this sport a lot harder to leave after so long in it.

@benfowlkesmma being that I like a bet, should I know a fighter is on TRT before a contest?

If you ask me, we should all know if a fighter is on testosterone-replacement therapy before he fights. His opponent should definitely know, ideally before he accepts the fight. Whether you think the treatment is totally legit or a dangerous loophole just begging to be exploited, transparency from those using it and from those allowing them to use it shouldn’t be too much to ask.

But in your own roundabout way you bring up an interesting point related to TRT in MMA: Does being on the stuff significantly increase a fighter’s odds of victory? I’ve heard a lot of people asking this recently, often in defense of TRT use. It’s a difficult question to answer, mostly because the sample size is still pretty small. We can all name fighters who’ve won and lost while on TRT, but what does that prove? Fighters have won and lost on all manner of performance-enhancing drugs over the years. I don’t see anyone pointing to Stephan Bonnar’s loss to Anderson Silva while on drostanolone as proof that it should be taken off the banned substances list. Just because something isn’t magic, that doesn’t necessarily mean it isn’t still unfair.

I realize I’m not really answering your question, though, which, as I understand it, is whether it’s a smart move for you to bet on (or against) known TRT users. Again, I’d argue there’s not enough evidence to know for sure, but it is worth considering what might prompt a fighter to get on this controversial treatment in the first place. A guy who’s destroying everybody he faces probably isn’t going to want to risk the public criticism just to get a little boost. Seems more likely that it’ll be the fighters who are already faltering who go looking for the answer in a syringe. They might not get the result they want every time, but if it didn’t work, they wouldn’t go to all this trouble to do it.

@benfowlkesmma I don’t love Cain-Bigfoot 2, but honestly couldn’t think of anyone else to give shot to. Who would you have picked? #TMB

I agree that it’s going to make for a tough sell, especially after the way Cain Velasquez absolutely destroyed Antonio Silva in their first meeting. But short of waiting for future matchups to produce a more compelling contender, I also don’t see an obvious alternative. In a way, I’m almost so relieved to see the UFC give a title shot to someone coming off a victory that I don’t even care whether the fight will be competitive. At least the next heavyweight title contender is a heavyweight. At least we know he got the shot by knocking out people rather than talking his way into it. For right now, that’s enough for me.

Dude, calm down. It was one boring fight on an otherwise entertaining card. If the utter snoozefest between Gabriel Gonzaga and Kevin Jordan (which was punctuated by a surprising knockout in the final minute, but only after 14 minutes of total boredom) at UFC 56 didn’t kill pay-per-view for the UFC, this certainly won’t.

@benfowlkesmma if you are Dos Santos, do you put in your contract w/ Reem mandatory VADA or USADA testing? Is he a fool not to? #tmb

I’d be surprised to see Junior dos Santos go that route, if only because he seems like far less of a boat-rocker than fighters such as B.J. Penn or Roy Nelson. As for whether it would be smart for him to ignore his own easygoing nature and find a way to make sure we know what’s in Alistair Overeem’s body before they fight, well, it sure wouldn’t hurt. I’d support any fighter who’s willing to go the extra mile to not only assure fans that he’s competing clean, but also to make sure he isn’t opening himself up to any unfair or undue risk against an opponent who’s figured out how to bypass MMA’s relatively weak drug testing protocols. I just hope the UFC would be as supportive if JDS decided to go that route.

@benfowlkesmma Is Sara McMann the best prospect for the UFC’s women’s division? Or is she a hothead like her dad Vince?

In answer to your question, I’m still not sure what to make of McMann. She’s obviously a great athlete, but with only six pro fights, she’s still pretty inexperienced in MMA. What’s interesting about her is that, with her wrestling pedigree, she seems like she could eventually be a tough style matchup for Ronda Rousey (and, let’s be honest, the UFC’s women’s division is all about Rousey at this point). A powerhouse wrestler who throws hard on the feet, but can still put you down when she feels like it? As long as her submission (and by submission I mostly mean armbar) defense is sound, she could be a problem for the UFC’s golden girl.

@benfowlkesmma what do you think about the who Cyborg and Ronda situation. Is Cyborg just being difficult? TMB

I don’t know if she’s only being difficult, but it does seem like “Cyborg” Santos is not being terribly smart. Consider her predicament: She’s a disgraced former champ coming off a steroid suspension and trying to compete in a division that the UFC doesn’t have. Does that really seem like the best position from which to start making demands?

Santos says she can’t make 135 pounds. She cites health concerns, even brandishes a doctor’s note. That strategy might work a lot better if she hadn’t recently been caught using steroids, which are also not a great idea from a health standpoint. The problem is, 145 pounds is not exactly a thriving division in women’s MMA right now. If Santos is so adamant that it’s the only weight class she can compete in, she might be dooming herself to long periods of inactivity. Maybe she’s fine with that. Maybe she genuinely feels that she has no other option. If that’s the case, the UFC might as well let her go do – whatever it is she would rather be doing.

But Santos (and her manager, Mr. Tito Ortiz) ought to be very clear about one thing first: The UFC doesn’t need her. It already has the biggest star in women’s MMA, and now that it’s added other 135-pounders such as Miesha Tate, Cat Zingano, Alexis Davis and Sara McMann, it looks like there’ll be no immediate shortage of opponents for her, assuming she gets by Liz Carmouche. Where does Santos think she fits into that picture? I’d say she’s a fighter the UFC would like to have, but doesn’t absolutely need. She seems to think that she doesn’t need the UFC either, which is basically like saying thanks, but no thanks to the biggest, most profitable opportunity of your career.

Again, maybe she’s really, truly fine with that. But since she seems to think she could get down to at least 140 pounds for a catchweight bout, that really only leaves five more pounds separating her from a major payday. You’re telling me she doesn’t even want to give that a shot? It’s not even worth considering? If that’s how she really feels, then OK. I just hope she knows what she’s giving up on.

Ben Fowlkes is MMAjunkie.com and USA TODAY’s MMA columnist. Follow him on Twitter at @BenFowlkesMMA. Twitter Mailbag appears every Thursday on MMAjunkie.com.

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